March 29, 2024
Column

Kids’ games merry sans the cheese

It’s one thing being a big cheese. But that’s a far, far cry from being the last one to be chosen in “The Farmer in the Dell.”

Remember the game … the farmer takes a wife, heigh-ho the dairy-o, the farmer takes a wife; and on it goes with the wife taking a child, the child taking a nurse, the nurse taking a dog, the dog, the cat; the cat, the rat; the rat, the cheese.

And the game ends with the verse: “The cheese stands alone, the cheese stands alone; Heigh-ho the dairy-o, the cheese stands alone.”

I liked other games better, even “Fruit Basket, Turn-Over,” when the person left without a chair after everyone scrambles to sit down becomes, not the loser, but the leader for the next round.

A scavenger hunt was my all-time favorite game, with each party guest given a list of articles to obtain within a certain time: maybe a horseshoe or pair of red flannels or hair from a pony’s tail or tweezers from your mother’s purse.

Or “Hide and Go Seek,” which could be played outside or inside the house as long as the lights were turned off and it was dark. It was the most fun being the first person to hide and wait until the other guests began their search. Then, one after the other would get in, without making a sound, beside me until everyone was in the hiding place.

And no one was left standing alone.

During birthday parties there would be prizes awarded for pinning the tail on the donkey while blindfolded, or for winning the walnut-in-a-spoon relay or three-legged race.

And for other special days, Valentine’s Day or May Day or St. Patrick’s Day, there were decorations in order and games to signify the occasion. Washington’s birthday, for instance, called for a centerpiece of either a log cabin or a Jack Horner pie containing favors: cardboard hatchets filled with small hard candies. Refreshments would include cherry gelatin dessert; and the game of the day would be called “George Washington’s Coat.” The children would be divided into two rows, with the child at the head of each row given a buttoned coat. At the signal, each must unbutton the coat, put it on, take it off and button it up again before passing it to the next child. The row finishing first wins.

St. Patrick’s Day parties, on the other hand, centered on shamrocks and the color green. Rooms were draped with emerald-green crepe paper streamers, and everyone received green hats and snakes for favors. The child finding the most shamrocks hidden throughout the room was given a prize.

I think every holiday should prompt a party whether St. Patty’s Day, featuring green beer, or an Easter party with pastel-colored eggs and chocolate rabbits.

The party games should be selected carefully. I don’t mind playing tag or bobbing for apples or singing in a circle “All Around the Mulberry Bush.”

But I don’t want to be left in “Red Rover, Red Rover, Send (Someone) Right Over.” Especially when, like the cheese, I have to stand alone at the end of the game, not having been picked.


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